294 EXCELLENCY OV THE GOSPEL
God tho Spirit doth the other. Yon liavo all the three persons in this place, for wo sc^e the glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost shining in Jesns Christ. Christ is the image according to which we are changed. The Spirit is ho that changeth us according to that image. God shews his mercy in Christ. We knowing and apprehending the mercy of God in Christ by the Spirit, are changed by that Spirit ' from glory to glory.' So that the blessed Trinity, as they have a perfect unity in themselves in nature, for they are all one God, so they have a most perfect unity in their love, and care, and respect to mankind. We cannot want the work of any one of them all. Their work is for the good of mankind. The Father in his wisdom decreed and laid tho foundation how mercy and justice might be reconciled in the death of the Mediator. Christ wrought our salvation. The Hol}^ Ghost assures us of it and knits us to Christ, and changeth and fits us to be members of so glorious a head, and so translates and trans- forms us more and more ' from glory to glory.'
It is a comfortable consideration to see how our salvation and our fitting for salvation, till we be put in full possession of it, stands upon the unity of the three glorious persons in the Trinity, that all join in one for the making of man happy.
I will name two or throe doctrines, before I come to that which I mean to dwell on.
As, first, that
Doct. The Spint comes from Christ.
It is said here, ' By the Spirit of the Lord,' that is, of Christ ; because Christ doth sjnrare,-'' as well as the Father. The Father doth spirare, and the Son doth breathe. The Holy Ghost proceeds by way of spiration from both. Therefore the Spirit is not only the Spirit of the Father, but of the Son, as we see here, ' The Spirit of the Lord.' Christ sends the Spirit, as well as the Father. ' I will send you the Comforter.' The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son ; and he doth report to us the love of the Father and of the Son ; and therefore, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, the shutting of the chapter, * The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost,' &c. As the Holy Ghost hath communion in proceeding from the Father and the Son, and knows the secrets of both; so he reveals them to us. The love of God the Father, and the Son, and the communion of the Holy Ghost ; so the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father ; he is called here tho Spirit of the Lord.
Then again, the Spirit is a distinct person from Christ. It is said before, ' The Lord is that Spirit.' That might trouble men, how to know that * the Lord is that Spirit.' Men might think that Christ is all one with the Spirit. No. Hero the Spirit is said to be the Spirit of the Lord. He means he is another distinct person from Christ ; and the Spirit is God as well as Christ, because the Spirit hath the operations of God attributed to him, to change and transform, and make new. We are changed into the same image, from gloiy to glory, ' even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' Creation and renovation of all new is from an almighty power. All the power in heaven and earth cannot make that that was not, to be, especially that that was contrary and opposite, to be. Now for a man in opposition and enmity to religion, to be changed to a better image, to the image of Christ, it argueth an almighty power. These doctrinal points I do but only touch. I come to that that I judge more useful; that is, that * That is, 'breathe.'— G.
ABOVE THE LAW. 295
Doct. Whatsoever is good in us comes from the Spirit of God.
What need I stand upon reasons ? "Whatsoever is above nature it must come from God's Spirit, The Spirit is the author of all things above nature. Grace whereby we are like Christ, is above nature ; therefore it must be by the Spirit of God.
Besides, that which riseth of nothing, and is opposite, and hath Satan to oppose it, it must have an almighty power to work it. Therefore whosoever works anything that is supernaturally good in us, he must be above the devil. We cannot so much as call Jesus,* with a feeling, but by the Spirit of God. We cannot think a good thought. All is by the Spirit, whatsoever is gracious and comfortable in us. I should be over-troublesome to you to be much in so clear a common argument as this is. Therefore I will hasten to make some use of it.
Use 1. And therefore put out of your thoughts, I beseech you, when you look to have any gi'ace or comfort wrought, shut out of your hearts too much relying upon ang outward thing. Think not that education can make a man good, or plodding can make a man good : in bodily exercise, in hearing much, in conferring much, in custom or education, or any pains of our own. These are things that the Spirit will be effectual in, if we use them as we should ; but without the Spirit what are they ? Nay, what is the body of Christ without the Spirit ? * The flesh profiteth nothing,' John vi. 63. What is the sacrament and the word ? Dead things without the Spirit of the Lord. Nothing can work upon the soul, no outward thing in the world, but the Spirit of God ; and the Spirit of God works upon the soul by the means of grace, by gi'acious habits and qualities wrought. For he doth not work upon the soul immediately. Before he alter and change the soul, the Spirit works upon the soul by altering, and changing of it ; and when it hath altered the soul, then it joins with the soul, and alters and changeth it according to the image of Christ, more and more still.